If you don't already have an estate plan and you're here to learn what it would mean to have one, you're in the right place.
Think of your estate plan as a roadmap your family will be able to turn to - to take care of you, your spouse, and your children if a real crisis like your death or incapacity were to occur. Your families roadmap should be easy to understand and by the end of my time working with a client,
As an estate planning lawyer, the perspective I have when putting plans together for my clients, is that it should take care of everything my clients own and everyone my clients love, (including them), in all of the best ways possible.
That means keeping your family out of court and out of conflict if or when something happens to you, and planning to pass the most value possible in ways that will best take care of your children. Ultimately your estate plan should preserve the loving relationships in your family, take care of the people you love and provide the framework for their continued success.
In order to preserve the "love" in your family, we spend time analyzing family dynamics and all of your assets, to ensure your goals are met and that your family will not need to experience the time-consuming hassle of probate court. Probate can be very stressful, time consuming and will test the relationships in many families.
For your plan to "work," it will need to be personalized to your family. The health, age, and marital history of everyone in your family (among other factors) should be evaluated. The types of assets you own, character of your retirement savings, and whether you’d like to maximize or protect a child’s inheritance are also factors for you to consider.
For example, do you have a child with a disability why may need Medicaid benefits someday? Leaving an inheritance for such a child without proper planning in place could disrupt essential financial resources they may need someday. Are one of your children in a marriage that you think will not last, or Are there other "adult" problems that one of your children are already having that might be exacerbated by by inherited money? We often utilize trusts to ensure that money left for a child of yours will only benefit them, and not be given away to outsiders like their spouse, law suits that exceed insurance coverage, or the government.
In the planning phase of our process, we will identify any unique concerns for your family to avoid, and opportunities available to exploit. We will put together a roadmap for your family to follow so that conflict and confusion can be avoided and your assets maximized for the future of your family.
Getting your planning done while you are healthy and not under the duress of a medical diagnosis or crisis will allow you to live your best life as a parent, knowing that your family is situated for success despite
Learn how you can pass more value from your estate to loved ones, preserve the love in your family by keeping them out of courts and out of conflict
